jml11
05-31-2010, 10:14 PM
Quite a few of you have been asking me about my avatar so I suppose I should make good on my promise and post up the story:
This was my third chance at Grizzly having been drawn once in 2003 (MU 4-17) and again last spring in MU 7-17. I never participated in the Kootenay hunt do to job commitment (darn Stone’s Sheep research) but did put in a fair amount of time last spring with no great success. I did see one sow with 3 cubs in a field on private land…and was often hampered by the long winter. It was pretty disappointing for a supposed Grizzly haven.
This year I put in for a new area 7- (east of PG)...with high hopes of beating the ‘reduced odds’. I put in a group hunt with a buddy and low and behold we were both drawn again. The early spring allowed us to go in early this year but his nearly two week overdue baby did not so we were not able to go until May Long weekend.
We headed out May 22, getting a late start we didn’t reach the hunting grounds until early afternoon and after picking a camp and unloading the ATV’s we were able to get into some slides. We were mostly exploring on this first day and took a tour of the area, not seeing much other than a few elk and goats.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230012.jpg
On our way back to camp in the evening, we passed by one of the gorgeous slides we had glassed over earlier and low and behold our first Grizzly! We were able to determine quite quickly that it was young bear and figured it was a sow so we just watched her graze, when over the ridge into the slide came in a dark bear and immediately we could tell he was much larger. We watched this bear for nearly half hour and figured it was definitely a mature boar. We contemplated going after it but it required inflating a boat to cross the stream and a hike up into the slide…as is was already past 8 o’clock pm. We figured putting a stalk on a grizzly with light dwindling and possible making a poor shot or wounding this bear at last light was not a good option so we stayed back assuming he would still be there in the morning. On the way out we saw two more grizzlies playing in the snow on another slide.
We were up at 5:00 am the next day and were back on the slide by 6:00am. Immediately we spotted the young sow and looked for the other bear to no avail.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230006.jpg
After about 20 minutes, we noticed another bear walking up from the bottom of the slide towards the sow. This bear was not the dark guy from the previous night but a whole new bear.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230007.jpg
This bear was a younger bear as well, we figured a 4-5 year old boar (~6 feet). We watched him chase the sow around for a while and up over the mountain ridge they went, but before they disappeared another darker bear was spotted in an adjacent slide to the right…it looked like the larger male from the previous night so we quickly pumped up the boats and headed across…one of us on the left side (me) and one on the right. The bear would be between us. http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230013.jpg
It took us both about 1 hour to get across and up high enough so we were above him and he couldn’t wind us (wind blows straight up the slides). We slowly moved towards each other but could not see the bear as it was in a small opening surrounded by thick willows, douglas maple and alder. My partner sat still on a ridge line overlooking the area we had last seen the bear and was in a great position to spot the bear if it moved up or towards him so I slowly made my way along the rock ledge ~200m above him hoping to spot him or spook him (if hecame higher) towards my partner…but after a slow hour walk no sign of the bear and I was now over by my partner. The bears made obvious tracks in the slide where they had recently walked and I didn’t see any sign of him walking up past us through the willows before we got into position, so the only other way he could have gone was into the thick shrubbery that I walked above and just didn’t see him or straight down into the timber. So I decided to move back across into the rocks above the field of bushes in hopes of getting another look at him. For anyone that has hunted slides, you know that the willow and alder can be thick and tall and it was no exception here, being so thick you couldn’t walk through it in many places and it was well over 10 feet tall…which makes spotting a bear pretty difficult.
I climbed quite high into the rocks, passing within 50 yards of a few goats, so I could see over the entire area and low and behold, there he was moving into a small opening of green forbs and herbs, now to my right (he had walked right below me in the opposite direction). I was well over 300 yards above him so I decided to crawl a bit closer, which was no easy task in the steep, slippery rocks but was able to close the gap to ~150-175 yards I figured. This was as close as I could get as any lower would decrease the angle and I wouldn’t be able to see into the opening. The bear stayed close to top of the opening behind some of the tall alder and maple so I could only see his back or ears from time to time. I just had to wait him out. I got a good rest for my rifle (.300 win mag) and aimed it in the spot I hoped he would walk into. To my luck, the bear turned and walked right into my scope sights after about 20 minutes and I was ready…once the shoulder reached the cross-hairs I pulled the trigger and watched the bear crumble and roll down into the alder below!! I waited a bit and he did not move so I figured he was done. I waited for my partner to come over and we went down to the bear that was piled up along some alder and it was high fives all around, I had my first Grizzly!
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/101_1251.jpg
This was my third chance at Grizzly having been drawn once in 2003 (MU 4-17) and again last spring in MU 7-17. I never participated in the Kootenay hunt do to job commitment (darn Stone’s Sheep research) but did put in a fair amount of time last spring with no great success. I did see one sow with 3 cubs in a field on private land…and was often hampered by the long winter. It was pretty disappointing for a supposed Grizzly haven.
This year I put in for a new area 7- (east of PG)...with high hopes of beating the ‘reduced odds’. I put in a group hunt with a buddy and low and behold we were both drawn again. The early spring allowed us to go in early this year but his nearly two week overdue baby did not so we were not able to go until May Long weekend.
We headed out May 22, getting a late start we didn’t reach the hunting grounds until early afternoon and after picking a camp and unloading the ATV’s we were able to get into some slides. We were mostly exploring on this first day and took a tour of the area, not seeing much other than a few elk and goats.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230012.jpg
On our way back to camp in the evening, we passed by one of the gorgeous slides we had glassed over earlier and low and behold our first Grizzly! We were able to determine quite quickly that it was young bear and figured it was a sow so we just watched her graze, when over the ridge into the slide came in a dark bear and immediately we could tell he was much larger. We watched this bear for nearly half hour and figured it was definitely a mature boar. We contemplated going after it but it required inflating a boat to cross the stream and a hike up into the slide…as is was already past 8 o’clock pm. We figured putting a stalk on a grizzly with light dwindling and possible making a poor shot or wounding this bear at last light was not a good option so we stayed back assuming he would still be there in the morning. On the way out we saw two more grizzlies playing in the snow on another slide.
We were up at 5:00 am the next day and were back on the slide by 6:00am. Immediately we spotted the young sow and looked for the other bear to no avail.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230006.jpg
After about 20 minutes, we noticed another bear walking up from the bottom of the slide towards the sow. This bear was not the dark guy from the previous night but a whole new bear.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230007.jpg
This bear was a younger bear as well, we figured a 4-5 year old boar (~6 feet). We watched him chase the sow around for a while and up over the mountain ridge they went, but before they disappeared another darker bear was spotted in an adjacent slide to the right…it looked like the larger male from the previous night so we quickly pumped up the boats and headed across…one of us on the left side (me) and one on the right. The bear would be between us. http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/P5230013.jpg
It took us both about 1 hour to get across and up high enough so we were above him and he couldn’t wind us (wind blows straight up the slides). We slowly moved towards each other but could not see the bear as it was in a small opening surrounded by thick willows, douglas maple and alder. My partner sat still on a ridge line overlooking the area we had last seen the bear and was in a great position to spot the bear if it moved up or towards him so I slowly made my way along the rock ledge ~200m above him hoping to spot him or spook him (if hecame higher) towards my partner…but after a slow hour walk no sign of the bear and I was now over by my partner. The bears made obvious tracks in the slide where they had recently walked and I didn’t see any sign of him walking up past us through the willows before we got into position, so the only other way he could have gone was into the thick shrubbery that I walked above and just didn’t see him or straight down into the timber. So I decided to move back across into the rocks above the field of bushes in hopes of getting another look at him. For anyone that has hunted slides, you know that the willow and alder can be thick and tall and it was no exception here, being so thick you couldn’t walk through it in many places and it was well over 10 feet tall…which makes spotting a bear pretty difficult.
I climbed quite high into the rocks, passing within 50 yards of a few goats, so I could see over the entire area and low and behold, there he was moving into a small opening of green forbs and herbs, now to my right (he had walked right below me in the opposite direction). I was well over 300 yards above him so I decided to crawl a bit closer, which was no easy task in the steep, slippery rocks but was able to close the gap to ~150-175 yards I figured. This was as close as I could get as any lower would decrease the angle and I wouldn’t be able to see into the opening. The bear stayed close to top of the opening behind some of the tall alder and maple so I could only see his back or ears from time to time. I just had to wait him out. I got a good rest for my rifle (.300 win mag) and aimed it in the spot I hoped he would walk into. To my luck, the bear turned and walked right into my scope sights after about 20 minutes and I was ready…once the shoulder reached the cross-hairs I pulled the trigger and watched the bear crumble and roll down into the alder below!! I waited a bit and he did not move so I figured he was done. I waited for my partner to come over and we went down to the bear that was piled up along some alder and it was high fives all around, I had my first Grizzly!
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/jflex48/101_1251.jpg